Cabrea EL85 Overheating issue.

[boatinwhenitwerks]

Bought an older pontoon about 7 years ago with a Cabrea EL85....had to get a new CDI box and it ran great for the first 5 years....then I blew up a piston. Never fully determined the cause....Anyway...had the powerhead rebuilt professionally....then I did all the reassembly. Motor runs fine at all rpms....starts a little hard, but overheats at higher RPMs. I"ve replaced the impeller and plate and the rest of the houseing seems fine, and I get a farily good stream from the pee hole. I read a great thread on this topic on Suzuki DT85 (nearly the same motor....parts are mostly interchangeable). Anyway....I"m about to change the "engine holder" gasket to see if that is the problem. I've heard that it can be. Not sure what else to do. I've come this far with this old motor and paid to have it rebuilt. Surely I can get proper water flow and get this thing back up to snuff. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[boatinwhenitwerks]

forgot to mention...this is a 1986 or 1987 motor. On an older pontoon.

 

[boatinwhenitwerks]

Okay. figured it out myself. Started chasing the path of water....wasted my time pulling off the head and looking....anyway...starting at the bottom...pump housing, gasket, impeller, water tube and bushings fine.....sooo "engine holder gasket" that was next....lo and behold....I trusted the powerhead rebuilder who sent me the remaining gaskets to complete assembly. I cannot believe I didn't catch it....but they sent the wrong gasket. There was no sealed seperation between the water inlet from the pump...and the exhaust out. So...probably half of the water pressure was going right out the exhaust... even though some was going through the motor...including the "pee hole". The old wrong gasket doesn't cover that one portion even though everything else lines up....and the new one clearly does. Problem solved...no more overheating alarm.